Ga. inmate's scheduled execution is postponed

JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia prison officials say they are postponing Tuesday evening's scheduled execution of a death row inmate for the 2001 murders of a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.

Georgia Attorney General spokeswoman Lauren Kane said the execution of Nicholas Cody Tate was postponed because he was planning to file an appeal.

Authorities say Tate and two of his brothers broke into Chrissie Williams' home in Paulding County and killed the woman and her daughter. The two other men are serving life sentences, but Tate was sentenced to die after prosecutors said he was the ringleader.

He exhausted his automatic appeals but initially refused to challenge the death sentence through habeas corpus appeals, which can last years. He waived his right to appeal at a 2009 hearing, saying "you caught me red-handed."